What can be done to improve a family of products while reducing both unit costs and the cost of tooling (non-recurring engineering & capital investment)? Here we discuss critical steps, planning options and design approaches needed to make the most of developing a family of products.

The decision to invest in tooling for the purpose of driving down manufacturing costs is different for every product, company and market. Quite often, when launching a new product or entering a new market, a risk averse design approach is taken that requires little or no tooling investment. Three things must be considered when determining how to approach design and manufacturing strategies:

The competitive unit price of the product for the intended market.

The level of risk perceived for entering a new market with a new product.

Sometimes even incremental increases in production volume can open up opportunities for cost reductions. The following example shows how creative thinking and a hard look at what your customers value can drive down the cost of goods (COGS) with only a minimal increase in production volumes.